Zohran Mamdani has pulled off a remarkable feat to become the next mayor of New York City.

I’ll give him credit for that.

Mamdani, 34, rose from relative obscurity as a state assemblyman to defeat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary in June. Cuomo, 67, decided to stay in the race, however, as an independent. For the second time, Mamdani beat the much more experienced politician.

What Mamdani lacks in credentials, he makes up for with charisma and youth, which clearly proved more appealing to the city’s voters – especially its younger ones.

It’s what he’s selling that I find alarming – and the fact that so many people bought it. Mamdani is a democratic socialist, and his policies are dangerous to this country’s ideals of free markets and individualism.

Someone's going to have to pay for Zohran Mamdani's free stuff

Just look at Mamdani’s wish list.

From the beginning, his campaign has focused on affordability and the high cost of living in the country’s most populous city. Mamdani’s plan includes everything from “free” childcare to “free” buses to a rent freeze. He also wants government-run grocery stores.

The problem with all this “free” stuff is that it isn’t, in fact, free. Someone is going to have to pay for it.

And as Democrats are wont to do, Mamdani is planning to sic an additional 2% tax on those who make more than $1 million a year. (Luckily, he can’t do this all on his own. He would need sign-off from the state legislature and governor.)

So it’s no surprise that wealthy New Yorkers did their best to keep Mamdani out of office. Super PACs supporting Cuomo raised more than $40 million, with a lot of that funding coming from billionaires like Bill Ackman and Barry Diller.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who has an estimated net worth of $250 million, said ahead of the election that he’d consider moving his company’s headquarters out of New York City if Mamdani won. Expect many more entrepreneurs and wealthy residents to leave New York City for more tax-friendly havens like Florida and Texas.

It’s much harder to pay for all these “free” programs when the evil rich people aren’t there to tax.

Does Mamdani's win signal where the Democratic Party is headed?

Mamdani’s win also raises questions beyond the Big Apple and about the future of the Democratic Party. Does the energy behind his win signal how far left the party is willing to go?

It’s true that Cuomo brought a lot of baggage. The former governor resigned from office in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal. He also faced a lot of scrutiny for his COVID-19 policies related to nursing homes and the deaths of the elderly that followed.

So New Yorkers may have had enough of him.

There’s more to Mamdani’s victory than that, though. A growing coalition of progressive voters actively supports socialism.

A recent Axios-Generation Lab poll of U.S. college students found that 67% say they have a positive or neutral view of the word "socialism" – compared with only 40% who held the same view of the word "capitalism."

Party differences predicted these views, with 47% of Democrats and 31% of independents reacting positively to socialism, while only 5% of Republicans did.

As Democrats seek to redefine themselves after the 2024 election losses, there’s growing pressure from rising stars like Mamdani and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to embrace socialist ideas.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York (somewhat reluctantly) endorsed Mamdani ahead of the election, yet he has said that the mayor-elect doesn’t represent the future of the Democratic Party nationwide.

I’m not so sure.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York City chose Mamdani. Now we get to see full-blown socialism in action. | Opinion

Reporting by Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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